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life_full_ofbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I love Jewish historical fiction, especially when it’s not your typical WW2 setting. Street Corner Dreams takes place in NYC from the mid 1910’s up until the start of WW2 and that’s what drew me to this.
Italian gangs and Jewish gangs were of New York Morty, the baby, grows up on the streets of Brooklyn trying to stay away from both the Italian and Jewish gangs. When something happens that has him asking an old friend for money he finds himself in the middle of one of the biggest crime laden Jewish gangs in all of New York. Unable to escape he ends up deserting the only life he knows- including his family and the girl he loves, leaving them to think he died a gangster.
I really loved the idea of this book since books about Jewish families set in the 1920’s-1940’s in New York always make me think of my grandparents as children. I enjoyed pretty much all of it but endings can often break a book and this ending certainly did. In the acknowledgments, Ms. Kraut mentioned this was a work of fiction heavily inspired by a real family member. It left me wondering, did she end the book as abruptly as she did because she didn’t know what happened in real life or did she end it so abruptly because she ran out of time or steam? In either case she should have had an ending that tied things up instead of leaving loose ends.
Thank you to NetGalley and She Writes Press for an advanced copy of this. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to it. Street Corner Dreams hit the shelves on November 13, 2023.
erickaonpaper's review
challenging
dark
fast-paced
3.75
it’s a real skill to manage multiple storylines spanning two/three generations of a family during the midst of brooklyn’s notorious gang population in the 1920s-1940s. i know it’s nothing like it, but couldn’t quit picturing Brooklyn, with Saiorse Ronan, in my head!
donasbooks's review
4.0
Full review on my blog!
Thank you to the author Florence Reiss Kraut, publishers She Writes Press, and Get Red PR Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of STREET CORNER DREAMS. Thank you also to Libby for an accomanying ebook. All views are mine.
Opening quote: She thought how lucky she had been to have a friend like Cousin Surah , strong and wise and loving. A place to stay. Food to eat. Even piecework, stitching bespoke dresses and embroidering shirtwaists... where she could earn money and help pay their expenses. Loc 732
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. The pace is very fast, which keeps the narrative relevant and cohesive, but honestly at the expense of certain detail.
2. This story is brilliant and so important, the history of the single mother in America before the existence of social safety nets.
...
5. I love this narrative! The romance is so dangerous and heart-rending, which makes it absolutely gripping. The two lovers' family problems complicate everything, increasing the tension to a wonderful pitch!
...
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. Writers sometimes underestimate how much time conversations like the one at loc. 1003 take. This amount of material, especially of this sort, cannot always be covered in one brief visit of an hour or two, or even a whole afternoon. This is just a small pacing issue that I always notice!
...
Rating:
Thank you to the author Florence Reiss Kraut, publishers She Writes Press, and Get Red PR Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of STREET CORNER DREAMS. Thank you also to Libby for an accomanying ebook. All views are mine.
Opening quote: She thought how lucky she had been to have a friend like Cousin Surah , strong and wise and loving. A place to stay. Food to eat. Even piecework, stitching bespoke dresses and embroidering shirtwaists... where she could earn money and help pay their expenses. Loc 732
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. The pace is very fast, which keeps the narrative relevant and cohesive, but honestly at the expense of certain detail.
2. This story is brilliant and so important, the history of the single mother in America before the existence of social safety nets.
...
5. I love this narrative! The romance is so dangerous and heart-rending, which makes it absolutely gripping. The two lovers' family problems complicate everything, increasing the tension to a wonderful pitch!
...
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. Writers sometimes underestimate how much time conversations like the one at loc. 1003 take. This amount of material, especially of this sort, cannot always be covered in one brief visit of an hour or two, or even a whole afternoon. This is just a small pacing issue that I always notice!
...
Rating:
More...